The present invention relates to a transport and conveyer facility for moving elongated hot metallic stock and more particularly the invention relates to a transport and conveyer unit which includes a roll or roller being connected to a motor through a transmission and to be used for moving strands or ingots within a machine for continuous casting.
Generally speaking individually driven rolls or rollers are known, including rolls whose rotational speed is to be determined by an intermediate transmission. In such instances it is common practice to fasten the roll or roller directly upon the drive or output pinion of the respective transmission (see for example German printed patent application No. 2,629,039). Such a transport and drive units are compact but have the disadavantage that the heat of the stock to be moved by means of the roll or roller migrates directly into the roll or roller and from there into the drive pin as well as into the transmission. Also, the radiation heat is quite extensive under the circumstances and impinges directly upon the casing of the transmission. In either case the transmission will become very hot. Considering the extreme working conditions of such a system such as ingot temperatures of 900 and 1250 degrees centigrade, and considering furthermore that the transport speed is fairly low, such as half a meter to four meters per minute and considering still further that the transport may even stop, it is quite apparent that the thermal load on this device aggregate including the transmission is very and conceivably irregularly high. It is possible for instance that under such high temperature conditions the lubricant used through out this drive aggregate suddenly loses its lubricative capability. The transmission casing may warp or become otherwise distorted. As a consequence the transmission may loose alignment and registry of elements and errors in the transmission as far as bearing and gear meshing is concerned are conceivable. This in turn would mean that the transmission is no longer as is desired and even required for purposes of adeguately withdrawing of the ingot from the mold which means that the casting process requiring very accurate guidance and moving of the casting strand or ingot is no longer subject to the requisite accuracy.
In order to avoid any undesired heating of the transmission driving one of the transport rolls or rollers in the machine for continuous casting it has been proposed to cool these rolls with water. This kind of cooling is possible only in the generally wet zones of the equipment because the cooling water which does not evaporate will flow from these rolls or rollers into the construction parts underneath. However the presence of secondary cooling with spray water as far as the withdrawal path of the casting is concerned is today no longer an indispensable requirement.